Daijiworld Media Network- New Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 3: In a dramatic breakthrough, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has apprehended a man who had been evading law for over 26 years after being convicted for the chilling abduction and murder of an eight-year-old boy in 1993.
The accused, Raj Kishore (55), also known by the alias ‘Bade Lalla,’ originally hailed from Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 by the Karkardooma Sessions Court for the heinous crime. However, in 1999, while lodged in Tihar Jail, he was granted a six-week parole by the Delhi High Court—one from which he never returned.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav confirmed that Kishore was finally arrested on August 2 from Ghaziabad’s Khoda Colony, bringing an end to a decades-long manhunt. The arrest followed an intensive two-month operation carried out by over 10 personnel, aimed specifically at tracking down parole jumpers convicted of serious offences.
The horrific incident dates back to December 28, 1993, when Raj Kishore and his associate abducted the young son of a garment factory owner from Delhi's Kalyanpuri area. A ransom of Rs 30,000 was demanded, and the child’s father paid the amount, desperately hoping for his son’s safe return. But the accused mercilessly strangled the child and dumped his body in a local drain, shattering the family and sending shockwaves through the city.
The police had registered a case at Kalyanpuri Police Station and following a detailed investigation, both accused were convicted. While Kishore’s associate has already completed his sentence, Kishore exploited the parole loophole to vanish.
To escape capture, the absconder lived a life of constant movement. He first stayed in Patna for four years, shifted to Jaipur for nearly 13 years, and then moved to Barnala in Punjab where he spent three more years in obscurity. Throughout this time, he took up odd jobs, maintained a low profile, and occasionally visited his native village in Kanpur Dehat.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kishore permanently returned to Kanpur and began working as a tailor under a new identity, the police revealed. Despite several attempts to apprehend him in Kanpur, local support and his careful movements enabled him to slip away each time.
However, a focused team of the Crime Branch finally managed to corner him using strategic planning. The team lured Kishore out of hiding and arrested him in Ghaziabad, ending a 26-year-long cat-and-mouse chase.
The arrest of Raj Kishore marks the closure of one of the capital’s most disturbing criminal sagas, and serves as a reminder of how long arms of the law continue to pursue justice, no matter how delayed.